GameStop: Wii, PS3 Shortages Will Last 'For Months'

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Retailer not expecting drought to end anytime soon.

By Jim Reilly

GameStop isn't expecting the current shortage of PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles to end anytime soon. When asked during the company's investor call this morning, Executive VP of Merchandising Tony Bartel said he expects the shortages will continue into the summer months.

"Obviously it's a question we ask the platform holders constantly," said Bartel when asked about the shortages. "I can tell you that we do anticipate we will be in this situation, at least with the PlayStation 3, for another couple months unfortunately because we could sell a lot more hardware than what we have on both the PS3 and Wii platform.

"We do believe the Wii will come into stock quicker than the PS3, so we do anticipate that those shortages should abate sometime before the next couple months," he added. "But I don't have clarity as to why there is a shortage other than because of the unprecedented hardware demand in December, and I think we are still scrambling to catch up from the surge that occurred."

Sony told IGN earlier this week it plans to up PlayStation 3 supply during certain release periods for its biggest titles, including Tuesday's release of God of War III.

Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes, however, the Wii shortage issues for Nintendo is the least of the company's problems going forward.

"Nintendo had warned us that February would be a difficult month due to supply constraints, but we believe that the problem runs deeper than that, as sales of staple titles like Wii Fit with Balance Board and Wii Play were well below historical levels," Pachter said.

"There is clearly strong demand for the PS3 at the moment due in part to its list of exclusives in early 2010 and Blu-ray compatibility. Nintendo's Wii, on the other hand, will not see any exciting exclusives until at least May and its software attach rate continues to decline."